5 things that Never Happened
by fancyjules
Summary: ...On Peter and Claire's roadtrip. They map out a route, agree to split the driving, and steadfastly avoid talking about anything that starts with uncle and ends with niece. Post 1x22, more Peter and Claire friendship, angst than romance.


**Title**: 5 things that Never Happened on Peter and Claire's roadtrip  
**Rating**: PG  
**Word Count**: 1690  
**Pairing/Charcter**: Peter, Claire  
**Disclaimer**: Everything belongs to NBC, Kring, etc. I only wish I owned this show.  
**Summary**: They map out a route, agree to split the driving, and steadfastly avoid talking about anything that starts with uncle and ends with niece.  
**Spoilers/Warnings**: Up till 1x22 _Landslide_.

author's note: So Peter and Claire stayed in NY at the end of 1x22 instead of fleeing to Nebraska like NOAH (ha!) wanted. And since I'm obsessed with 5 Things That stories, here's 5 Things That never happened on their road trip to anonymity. I've been in a writing slump lately and this came to me last night in the middle of Ocean's 13 so, naturally, I'm not completely pleased with it but here we go anyway!

_Stoppin' in somebody's old home town, gotta get that midnight meal. If you can't get behind your own life, get behind the driving wheel…_

_-- Ben Kweller, Penny on a Train Track_

i.

They don't get very far that first night. It turns out Nebraska's not around the corner and leaving at sunset, exhausted and nervous and worried, wasn't the best plan. They settle at the first motel they see over the border of Pennsylvania and the room's small but it has two beds, a shower, and a TV and that's all they really need.

Claire claims the left bed.

Peter turns on CNN or one of those 24 hour news channels and listens intensely to two talking heads arguing at each other about Iraq or President Bush or maybe both. He's looking for news on an explosion New York City, expecting the Breaking News logo and the solemn faced anchor to disrupt an ordinary night but after ten tense minutes, Claire can't take the waiting anymore.

She goes across the street to a strip mall and finds a CVS, where she stocks up on junk food, water bottles, and energy bars. She doesn't know what to expect anymore but if she has to move (AGAIN) to a town in Nebraska with 15 goddamn people in it, she's doing it with Doritos at her side.

She's so shaken by Ted's death and Sylar's imminent explosion, she buys a box of hair dye.

Peter's in the same position that she left him in and she dumps the plastic bags on a chair near the door. She takes the box of dye into the bathroom and places a ratty motel towel on her shoulders. Just one more thing she'll leave ruined in her wake.

Claire methodically separates her skull into palettes and applies the right amount of the cold, brown mix to each section. The brush feels out of place in her hand and she thinks of the painter, Isaac, who set so many things into motion with his own palette and brush.

She wonders what became of him.

While she waits, she looks in the mirror and imagines the dye seeping into her soul and darkening that too. She's a completely different person than she was two months ago and after Claire shampoos her hair clean, because she can't recognize the girl in the mirror, she finds scissors and cuts her hair shorter, shearing the cheerleader curls and leaving an uneven shoulder-length bob in their place.

Peter watches all of this from his perch on the bed. He never looks at her, never takes his gaze off of the television, but Claire can feel him following her movements. She thinks about breaking the silence but finds she doesn't really have anything to say.

Claire never gets used to the blunt edges, does double takes in the mirror every _fucking_ morning and Peter never asks why she did it.

ii.

The next day, after mindless hours of driving, they stop at a local diner for a late lunch. Claire orders pancakes even though it's almost 2:00 in the afternoon and pours too much syrup on them, laughing at Peter's mildly disgusted look.

"Nathan uses too much syrup too," Peter remarks absently as he sips his coffee. Claire's smile falters briefly before she pulls out a gigantic map of the United States and changes the subject. They map out a route, agree to split the driving, and steadfastly avoid talking about anything that starts with uncle and ends with niece.

The waitress winks at them when Peter orders Claire a piece of pie.

Claire goes to the bathroom while Peter pays for the bill – _my treat _he tells her, like he's taking her out to lunch for fun and they're not in the middle of a cross-country road trip for their _lives_. He's on the phone when she comes out and he's talking in an angry whisper.

"Because I couldn't let all those people die, Nathan," he's whisper yelling. He pauses to listen, scrunching his face up in apparent dislike for whatever his brother is telling him.

"No, you listen – fine. But you need to get Heidi and the boys and Ma out of there. I already TOLD you – yes. Yes. Uh-huh," he sighs and rubs his face in frustration. Claire touches his wrist lightly and he jumps slightly in surprise. He motions towards the door.

Claire exits the diner with Peter trailing behind her and blinks in the bright sunlight. Peter hangs back by the door to finish the conversation in privacy except that the parking lot is deserted and Peter's words carry clearly: "Claire's fine, by the way. Don't you even care? Do you want to talk to her? Whatever Nathan. Just – whatever."

He angrily snaps his phone shut and stalks over to the car. Claire's already in the driver's seat, the map folded perfectly in between their seats, the radio playing softly in the background.

"Ready to go?" she asks with a smile and Peter knows she heard everything.

"Ready," he replies and squeezes her hand gently, as if to say_ I'm sorry your biological father is such a bastard_.

Claire gently shakes her hand free and puts the car in reverse.

iii.

They listen to every CD Peter has in the car at least twice before Claire decides she cannot take anymore and turns on the radio. And that's ok for a while – they listen to a light rock station and then a top 40s station and periodically check an AM news station for anything out of the ordinary. They have fun racing each other to see who can name the title and artist of a song first and Claire gets a kick out of occasionally remarking "oh man, this song reminds me of 4th grade," to Peter's groan of "I was in college when this came out!"

But the radio stations get fuzzier and fuzzier as they get further and further into their trip and clear radio stations become few and far between. Claire fiddles and fiddles until she finds a slightly static-y but mostly OK country station, much to Peter's dismay and Claire's delight.

They get into a debate over country music versus anything else (_it sucks_ is Peter's argument against country and nothing Claire says can make him see how stupid and biased an argument that is) and it's so apparent in that moment that they are so completely different, products of growing up a city boy and a country girl, even if they are related that Claire begins to giggle. Peter gives her a weird look but says nothing and after a minute, begins humming along with the song on the radio underneath his breath.

It gets louder and louder until he's drumming on the wheel, lip synching the words, playing the air guitar – just completely hamming it up. Claire makes a mental note to go karaokeing with Peter when she's legal and just like that, for the first time all trip, Claire forgets about New York City and Sylar and millions of dead, including maybe both of her fathers, and enjoys herself. She throws herself into the song, jamming along with him. Claire's giggles become full on laughter and eventually they both yell out "SAVE A HORSE, RIDE A COWBOY", just a little bit ahead of Big and Rich.

iv.

The motel they stop at that night only has one room left, which Peter takes wearily, bone tired from being in a constant state of worry and fear. Peter cannot work up anything but resignation at seeing the one bed and no chairs the room holds and tells Claire he will sleep on the floor. She rolls her eyes at this declaration and informs him that they are adult enough to share a bed and not have it mean anything.

They find out almost immediately that air conditioner is broken or maybe the heat is and it's positively stifling in the room. Peter leaves the window open before they go to bed but it doesn't help any. They throw the covers on the ground and fall asleep at the opposite ends of the bed.

Claire wakes up far too early the next morning, the light filtering through the open window and blinding her. She moves her head slightly, out of the light's path, and finds herself laying on Peter's chest, her legs tangled with hers. Claire decides it's too early to worry about it and lets the steady rise and fall of Peter's chest lull her back to sleep.

It's awkward later, when Peter shakes her awake, and she has morning breath and he has bed head. Murmuring an apology as she uncurls her fingers from where they had been fisted in his thin undershirt, Claire steps into the bathroom to take the first shower.

Later, as they get into the car, she realizes it's the best she's slept in a while.

v.

Peter drives the last leg of their journey and Claire stares blankly out the window, looking but not seeing the flat landscape and muted colors. It's so different from New York's jutting buildings and frenetic pace, it feels almost surreal.

As they turn off their last highway, doomed to spend the last hundred miles on local roads, Claire begs Peter to stop at a gigantic bookstore she spies. Peter's barely parked the car before Claire's jumping out with a "I'll be right back" yelled into the wind. Peter rolls his eyes good naturedly at Claire's retreating figure and hunkers down in the driver's seat. Claire returns after a while, a small plastic bag in her hand, offering no explanation for the stop and doesn't immediately tell him what's in the bag. Peter sighs as he starts the car again and pulls out of the parking space.

After a while, the plastic crinkles as Claire removes the book from the bag. Peter sneaks a peak at the cover at a long red light and whatever he's expecting, it's certainly not this: Hibakusha: Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There's a mushroom cloud in black and white staring back at him and it's hard not to imagine it's New York underneath the atomic smoke.

Claire catches him looking and shrugs. "I want to know what it will be like for them," she says.

The light turns green and behind them, a car honks.


End file.
